Trudy and Rikard exchanged cautious looks. Trudy felt her cheeks heat.
Rikard cleared his throat. “As much as I would love to oblige, I am not a young man, and it has not been that long since…”
Trudy coughed slightly, caught between embarrassment and laughter and a rush of love for the man she had married.
Danyen smiled. “That is really only a matter of energy, also,” he said with amusement, and he reached over and unexpectedly brushed his hand down the front of Rikard’s pants. “And it doesn’t take much at all… considering the return.”
Rikard’s cough was not as slight as Trudy’s had been, and he stiffened.
All of him stiffened.
Danyen felt his energy rise again.
In the next room, the couple took advantage of Danyen’s simple gift, and repaid him with the curious, earth-based energy that only the natives of this planet could tap. Every kiss and caress was a tiny dribble, every rolling orgasm that Trudy enjoyed was a sweet sip, and Rikard’s well-earned release was enough of a gulp that when their slight noises faded into sleep, Danyen felt well enough to rise and prowl the dark house again.
The cat hissed at him from across the room, and Danyen gave her a wide berth. “It is not my intention to violate your territory,” he told her.
She appeared unmollified.
Danyen was able to duplicate the kitchen activities that had resulted in tea before, and helped himself to a packet labeled ‘apple cider’ that had more resemblance to Kool-aid than his previous exposure to such drinks.
When he perched in the living room to drink it, loo
king over the moonlit ruins of the garden, the cat was brave enough to stalk over and sniff his foot dismissively.
“I promise you, I mean you no ill will.”
By the time morning light was starting to peek into the window, Danyen had been pinned down by the cat’s weight, and was being held hostage for purrs. Slowing in his petting met with growls of disapproval. He was rewarded for his efforts with a stuttering purr and needle-sharp claws kneading dangerously close to his groin.
“She doesn’t trust everyone,” Trudy said in surprise. “Do you have powers over animals?”
“I assure you, if I did, I would not still be here,” Danyen answered, smiling at her entrance. “I have been trapped approximately an hour.”
Trudy blushed at his smile, but met his gaze in a way that few humans could. “Her name is Velvet,” she introduced.
“Not named for her claws,” Danyen winced, as she flexed her feet and drove the claws in question into his skin. He noticed then that Trudy was cradling her burnt arm. “Does it hurt?”
“No,” Trudy lied politely.
When he reached for her, she shook her head. “Not that bad,” she amended. “I can use some burn cream. Don’t exhaust yourself on my account again.”
“I am very much recovered again, thanks to you,” Danyen said, and he could not resist teasing. “I trust you enjoyed yourself as well.”
To his delight, Trudy laughed, a warm, rich chuckle that made Danyen feel like he was home, then wandered into the kitchen.
Velvet, deciding that his attention was no longer all for her, stalked away to angrily groom herself, leaving his lap unprotected.
To Danyen’s surprise, his body was having a reaction to Trudy’s bathrobe-wrapped presence.
He frowned.
It must be a reaction to feeding off her sexual energy; usually only a human anchor aroused that kind of desire in him.
He would have to move on quickly, and find permanent anchors sooner than he expected. The last thing he wanted to do was drive a wedge between these good people who had taken him in and accepted his alien nature without judgment or fear.
But he had a debt to repay first.
Rikard woke slowly.